BY TYLER COBB
The Springfield Junior Blues had no problems dropping the gloves on Friday night. Finding the back of the net though? Now that was a completely different story. St. Louis goalie Spencer Viele blocked all twenty-four Springfield shots attempted against him, the offense scored three power-play goals and the Bandits ran away with a 4-0 win despite the Junior Blues aggressive effort on Friday night at the Nelson Center. Springfield was short-handed eight times in a contest that featured more fights than an MMA or boxing events' card would have (Jr. Blues leader Kyle Cook was involved in two of them). St. Louis got goals from the likes of Joe Kalisz, Joesph Birmingham, Rance Hughes, and Ryan Stouffer as the Bandits netted four goals on thirty-nine shots against Springfield's two-man tandem behind the net that featured Tyler Parks and Connor Girard. Head coach Joe Dibble and his Junior Blues, who were shutout for the fifth time this season, will now head to St. Louis to face-off with these same Bandits tomorrow night at 7 pm. Springfield (9-14-1, 19 points) is now 1-3 on the season against St. Louis (19-5-1, 39 points), who moved into sole-possesion of first-place in the MidWest division following the tonight's victory.
